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The saiga antelope, Saiga tatarica, is a critically endangered species but relatively little is known about the population that migrate south into the Ustyurt plateau of Uzbekistan during the winter months. This population is now facing both new conservation opportunities and new threats. Funding has been made available for saiga monitoring in the region and a protected area extension for the saiga has been proposed, whilst simultaneously a border fence built between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan threatens to cut off the saiga migration route and cause animal deaths due to entanglement. Science is needed to support conservation decisionmaking on all areas of change and time is limited.
Habitat degradation through anthropogenic disturbance is one of the main drivers of global biodiversity loss. Resource extraction by the oil and gas industry is a large and growing component of this disturbance. This study quantifies the impacts of disturbance from oil and gas infrastructure on the semi-arid vegetation of the ecologically important Ustyurt Plateau, Uzbekistan. The footprint of oil and gas development on the Ustyurt is set to grow considerably in the future, so understanding the ecological consequences of infrastructure expansion will be vital, to mitigate negative impacts.